Pleasanton court commissioner charged with misconduct resigns

A veteran Alameda County Superior Court traffic commissioner assigned to the Pleasanton courthouse who was accused of mistreating defendants and making inappropriate comments to clerks has resigned.

Representatives of the state Commission on Judicial Performance said Taylor Culver, 70, who had been scheduled to face a hearing before a panel of special masters on Jan. 23, resigned his position on Nov. 30.

Culver, who was admitted to the bar in 1976 and was appointed to the Superior Court bench in 2005, has agreed never to seek or hold a judicial assignment or accept any work from the state court system, according to the commission.

The commission announced in October that it had charged Culver with nine counts of misconduct, including mistreating defendants, abusing his authority and making inappropriate comments to female clerks.

Culver's lawyer, Arthur Harris, wrote in a formal response in November that Culver believed the commission had "unnecessarily singled him out and is engaged in a campaign of harassment and intimidation for the obvious purpose of making his professional life difficult and miserable" and forcing him to walk away from his job.

Harris said the allegations against Culver "simply lack merit" and are "unfounded."

Harris said that before Culver became a lawyer he was "an extremely successful and award-winning architect."

Culver worked as a deputy attorney in the Alameda County District Attorney's Office for two years before starting his own law firm in 1978, according to Harris.